Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was also a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.

Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity.

Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment.